Children Enjoy Special Day in Countess Of Wessex Visit

Five-year-old Lucy Howarth from Salisbury experienced the moment of a lifetime when she handed HRH The Countess of Wessex a posy of flowers when the Royal visitor came to Salisbury District Hospital to open the new Children’s Unit.

HRH The Countess of Wessex spent an hour and a half meeting staff and children who will benefit when the service transfers to the new Unit and becomes fully operational in May following the commissioningprocess. She also met staff and patients in a newly designed Accident and Emergency Department (A&E).

Thanks to the support of the local community, the Stars Appeal’s Caring 4 Kids campaign successfully raised over £1 million to fund additional facilities for this unit, which includes home from home rooms, therapy facilities for children with disabilities, a multi-sensory room as well as indoor and outdoor play areas. As part of this, the Outpatient Unit will be known as ‘The Squire Children’s Outpatient Unit’ in recognition of the support given to the Stars Appeal by the Geoff & Fiona Squire Foundation. Local people also donated £250,000towards separate waiting and treatment facilities for children in the Accident and Emergency Unit.

Luke March, Chairman of Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust: “This really is a marvellous facility that will benefit so many children who need hospital services in this area and it was a real honour for us to have HRH The Countess of Wessex mark such an important occasion in this way. The design of the new unit which involved children themselves, will enhance children’s experiences of hospital care, and the extra facilities that we will now be able to provide would not have been possible without the enormous generosity of local people towards our charity, the Stars Appeal. I want to thank them again for their tremendous support and generosity.”

Notes to editors:

1. Photos: Captions as per filename.

2. The new children’s unit within the main hospital will mean that children’s services will be able to move away from wartime buildings into first class modern facilities based on level 3 and 4 of the existing hospital. Thanks to the support of the local community, Salisbury District Hospital’s fundraising charity, the Stars Appeal, successfully raised in excess of £1 million to fund additional facilities for the unit which includes home from home rooms, therapy facilities for children with disabilities, a multi-sensory room as well as indoor and outdoor play areas.

3.A complete redesign of the Accident and Emergency Department means that access is now easier and clearer with a more spacious and welcoming environmentto improve the patient’s experience. There are new waiting rooms, resuscitation and treatment areas. Separate waiting and treatment facilities have been developed for children. These have been supported by £250,000from the Stars Appeal. The changes also mean that the management of treatment flows more smoothly through the department, reducing waiting times between booking in at reception and discharge or ward admission.

4. Salisbury District Hospital Stars Appeal

·The Stars Appeal is Salisbury District Hospital’s charity. It raises money to create the best possible experience for patients and their families by funding extra care and equipment over and above that provided by the NHS.

·300,000 people across South Wiltshire, North and East Dorset and West Hampshire, and beyond, rely on Salisbury District Hospital every year.

·Thanks to the generous support of the local community, the Appeal has already funded many projects, large and small, throughout the hospital. They include:

·additional equipment and facilities worth £1million within the new children’s ward and outpatient unit

·a second lab in the Hospital’s Cardiac Suite enabling interventional work, as well as diagnostics, to be carried out locally

·a highly advanced keyhole cancer surgery suite

·state-of-the-art treatment and diagnostic equipment for premature and critically-ill babies

·additional therapy and facilities for patients with cancer and blood disorders on the Pembroke Unit

·a major contribution to the new bereavement suite

·a dedicated children’s waiting and treatment area in the Accident and Emergency Department

·The Appeal’s current major campaign, Caring 4 Kids, aims to make life better for local children in Hospital by funding projects across all children’s services and is presently focusing on raising £350,000 to fund a Family Accommodation Unit for the parents and siblings of babies in the Special Care Baby Unit (NICU).